MERIDEN, Conn., April 6 (UPI) -- A Connecticut hospital says an employee improperly took information on 93,500 patients home on a personal hard drive.
The employee was fired, but the hard drive has not been found, MidState Medical Center in Meriden told The Hartford Courant Monday.
The information taken outside the hospital's secure system included names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security and medical record numbers, but a spokesman said there is no evidence any of it has been misused.
MidState says it is sending letters to the 93,500 patients, warning them of the possible breach and offering them two years of an identity protection service.
Chief Executive Officer Lucille Janatka said the hospital does not believe "any information on patient diagnosis or treatment was on the hard drive."
Theft and improper removal of patient data has been increasing at U.S. hospitals in recent years. In February, New York City notified 1.7 million patients, staff and vendors at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx that their personal information was on stolen electronic files.
